Benedict XII

Facts

Benedict XII Born near Toulouse c. 1280/85, Jacques Fournier was a Cistercian who had studied in Paris before becoming Pope Benedict XII in 1334. The third pope to reign from Avignon, Benedict was a vigorous opponent of heresy and condemned groups like the Waldenses and the Cathars. To emphasize his point, he issued a bull affirming the beatific vision. He did not believe that clergy should hold more than one benefice (or office), and he opposed the idea of expectancy, that a man expecting to receive a benefice should receive money from the office before he was formally appointed. Benedict also insisted that bishops live in their dioceses. His rigorous monastic reforms were undone by his successors. Benedict sent money from Avignon to Rome to repair churches and to relieve the poor. Although he planned to return the papacy to Rome before his death in 1342, Benedict moved the papal archives to Avignon and built a fortified palace there.

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63.

St. Abigail, more commonly known as St. Gobnait or Deborah, was a medieval Irish saint born around the 6th century in County Clare, Ireland.
According to tradition, Abigail's family was ... continue reading

64.

St. Agatha, also known as Agatha of Sicily, is one of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of the Catholic Church. It is believed that she was born around 231 in either Catania or ... continue reading

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St. Katharine Drexel is the second American-born saint to be canonized by the Catholic Church. This amazing woman was an heiress to a large bequest who became a religious sister and a ... continue reading | shop

Bishop and martyr. The bishop of Scythopolis in Galilee. He attended the Council of Chalcedon (451) and took part in the complete triumph of the orthodox Christian cause against the heretics of the ... continue reading

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Teresa of Ávila was born Teresa Ali Fatim Corella Sanchez de Capeda y Ahumada in Ávila, Spain. Less than twenty years before Teresa was born in 1515, Columbus opened up the Western Hemisphere to European colonization. Two years after she was born, Luther started the ... continue reading

Saint Michael the Archangel isn't a saint, but rather he is an angel, and the leader of all angels and of the army of God. This is what the title "Archangel" means, that he is above all the others in rank.
St. Michael has four main responsibilities or offices, as we ... continue reading

St. Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger for God to certain people. He is one of the three archangels. Gabriel is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. First, in the Old Testament, Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his ... continue reading

Ita was reputedly of royal lineage. She was born at Decies, Waterford, Ireland, refused to be married, and secured her father's permission to live a virginal life. She moved to Killeedy, Limerick, and founded a community of women dedicated to God. She also founded a ... continue reading

St. James the Less, the author of the first Catholic Epistle, was the son of Alphaeus of Cleophas. His mother Mary was either a sister or a close relative of the Blessed Virgin, and for that reason, according to Jewish custom, he was sometimes called the brother of the ... continue reading

Billy the Kid, a notorious bank and stage-coach robber of the Wild West, met his match in the most unlikely of people when he met Sister Blandina Segale. Santa Fe, N.M. (CNA/EWTN News) - According to legend, and to Sr. Blandina's journal and letters, one of Billy the ... continue reading